ebook $6.99
ISBN: 9781613900659
46,230 words
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The ebook edition is also available at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Smashwords, Kobo & AllRomanceEbooks.
About the Book:
Dragons are present across almost all human culture: from the classic fire-breathing and princess-coveting dragons of Western Europe to the wise and noble dragons of East Asia to the great monstrous lizards of Greek mythology to the feathered serpents of South America. But what of the sexual side of the dragon? What of sensuality at the border between earth and sky, what of the myths of kings and emperors being literally descended from dragons, what of dragons who take on human shape to learn mankind’s ways? Humans and dragons have existed side by side since nearly the beginning of time—surely their desires must have crossed at some point.
Like a Breath of Flame: Erotic Tales of Dragons contains nine short stories that explore the theme of scaled sensuality from a variety of different perspectives. In this anthology are stories of lonely mountain dragons with exotic tastes, dragons with the power to slip into their lover’s dreams, shapechanger dragons, unusual interpretations of the term “dragon rider,” dragon-as-devil and dragon-as-god… and, yes, no less than two versions of the virgin-sacrificed-to-dragon story, each with their own unique twist on the tale. These stories of serpentine sexuality are certain to delight the senses.
This anthology includes stories by KJ Kabza, Julian Oliver-Fenn, Dean Scarborough, Kannang Feng, Steven Schwartz, Dominic Santi, David Hubbard, Kimber Camacho, and Nobilis Reed.
Look under the cut for a hot excerpt!
from Prince Lovely and the Three Dragons by Nobilis Reed:
Prince Lovely shivered. The hilltop he stood on wasn’t particularly cold–in fact, it would be a pleasant day, if circumstances were at all different–but he was dressed in nothing more than a dress of sheer samite. Well, to be perfectly honest, there was also a garland of daisies in his hair and a jeweled necklace, but those offered even less protection from the cold, and the stone at his back still retained a good deal of its nighttime coolness.
The fact that he was bound to that stone, waiting for a dragon to eat him, made the situation doubly shiver-worthy. It didn’t help that the gown looked absolutely terrible on him. They could have at least put him in one of the dresses with less décolletage; he simply didn’t have the right kind of chest for this one. The red velvet one, with the fur around the hem, that would have been particularly nice, and well suited to the weather, not to mention his coloring.
Prince Lovely prayed that the dragon would make his end quick. He had no desire to be roasted alive, or toyed with. One quick bite, he hoped. He didn’t fancy a trip down the beast’s gullet, to asphyxiate or whatever happened to creatures that got swallowed alive. He felt a pang of sudden guilt for the minnow he had swallowed on a dare when he was eleven.
A shadow passed over the hilltop, and Prince Lovely shivered again as the sun’s warmth was stolen from him. He looked up, hoping to see a cloud darkening the horizon, but the shape passing in front of the sun was no cloud. A moment later, the eclipse was done and the obstruction vanished in the glare. He heard a monstrous wingbeat, like the sound of a gigantic flag waving in a strong wind, and then he saw it.
The creature was enormous. It was easily larger than a wagon, larger than a cottage. He guessed it would be able to swallow a horse in one gulp, and Prince Lovely began counting his chances of not being eaten alive rather poorly. It landed with a blast of heat and wind, its massive weight making the ground shake. Red scales the size of dinner plates covered its massive forelegs. The golden scales on its belly were the size of knight’s shields. Heat poured from its body, the kind of heat you felt sitting too close to a kitchen fire. Claws as big as scythe blades dug into the soil of the hilltop, and smoke rose from the ground where it stood.
The creature bent its head down and sniffed at him. Its breath smelled of brimstone. It turned its head to bring one golden eye to bear. The black slit of its pupil widened and narrowed before him. If he could move, he could have jabbed something in that eye, wounded it, maybe even driven it away, but the ropes, and the terror that gripped him from head to toe, prevented any movement but the frenzied pumping of his lungs. The eye shifted up, down, back and forth, as if inspecting him minutely.
“Please,” he gasped. “Make it quick.”
He closed his eyes, wincing, waiting for the stroke that would end his life, and then opened them again. Was that a bridle strapped over the dragon’s head, inexplicably encrusted with ice in spite of the tremendous heat it was putting out? It couldn’t be, but that’s what it looked like.
The dragon reared up, bringing one massive talon to bear. There was a powerful tug on the ropes, and the sound of metal scraping on stone. The ropes became tighter, threatening to squeeze the life out of him, and then suddenly they were loose and he collapsed to the ground. He shook his head suddenly realizing that he was free, and stood to try to run, but a massive claw came down in front of him and the dragon plucked him from the ground like a man might handle a wayward kitten.
The tremendous wings, each broader than a windmill vane, pushed at the air, and the hilltop fell away. “Taking me to its nest to feed its young,” he thought. “Well, at least then I’m not as likely to get swallowed whole.”
Prince Lovely kept his eyes shut for most of the trip. From the wind rushing past, he knew they were going terribly fast. From the gradually decreasing temperature, he guessed they were flying north, into the Demonfang Mountains. No one ever returned from that barren expanse of rock and ice.
After what felt like hours of gradually decreasing terror, the fist that was clutched around him relaxed, and he tumbled onto a hard, cold floor. He picked himself up and looked around, as the dragon turned and lumbered away. The cold bit into him, now that the dragon’s heat wasn’t keeping him warm.
Prince Lovely stood on the balcony of a tower made of massive blocks of ice. Below, a fortress of the same strange construction lay spread before him. On the far side of the circular complex, a huge keep rose to half the height of the tower where he stood. The massive walls were empty of defenders, except for two dragons, both of which were watching him with unblinking eyes. One was the red one that had brought him, and the other was an equally immense creature with scales of sapphire and turquoise blue. They seemed more than adequate to the task of keeping the castle secure.
And then he smelled smoke, wood smoke, not the brimstone smell of the dragons. The prince turned and looked through the narrow archway leading inside the tower. The interior was about ten feet in diameter, its center carpeted with huge pelts from some massive creature. Along the icy walls, there were dressed, frost-rimed animal carcasses, stacks of hewn firewood, and dozens of barrels and crates. And on the opposite side of the room, someone stood next to a small fire built against the wall.
She was draped in one of the huge, shaggy furs. The remains of a garland of flowers were still woven into her curly black hair, and her bright obsidian eyes flashed from a face the color of dark bread. His breath caught in his throat and he found himself transfixed. He had never seen eyes like those, or any woman with such a regal bearing.
“You’re a man,” she observed. She set down the stick of firewood she had been holding, and pulled the animal skin closer around her shoulders. With an arched eyebrow, she looked Prince Lovely up and down, taking in his gown, the jewels around his neck, and the garland of flowers in his hair. “You’re not here to rescue me, are you?”
He shook his head. “I’m a sacrifice for the dragons, just like you.”
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